Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby made NHL history once again on Sunday, scoring the overtime winner at 2:22 to give the Penguins a 5-4 comeback victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
Crosby’s performance was historic in multiple ways. With the goal, he recorded his 112th career game-winning tally, tying Guy Lafleur for 10th on the NHL’s all-time list, with Wayne Gretzky (115) next in ninth. He also became the first player in league history to reach 50 career overtime points, split evenly with 25 goals and 25 assists. Moreover, Crosby became the fourth player ever to notch 20 career three-goal comeback wins, joining Kevin Lowe, Mark Messier, and Steve Yzerman. He is currently on a seven-game point streak, with 12 points (five goals, seven assists).
Pittsburgh found themselves in a significant hole early, behind 4-1 just 47 seconds into the second period. Columbus goals came from Dmitri Voronkov, Mason Marchment, Kirill Marchenko, and Zach Werenski, with Denton Mateychuk adding two assists. Jet Greaves stopped 38 of 41 shots. Ville Koivunen opened the scoring at 1:50 of the first period with a backhand rebound goal, and the Penguins quickly cut into the gap as Acciari and Novak added their fourth and eighth goals of the season, respectively.
Pittsburgh dominated late in regulation. After pulling goalie Arturs Silovs for an extra attacker, Rickard Rakell tied the game with 14 seconds remaining, assisted by Crosby. Crosby then completed the comeback by receiving a pass from Erik Karlsson and scoring the decisive overtime goal. Ben Kindel contributed two assists, and Arturs Silovs finished with 25 saves. Additionally, over the final two periods and overtime, the Penguins outshot the Blue Jackets 34-13, reversing an early deficit where they were outshot 12-9 in the first period.
The win was Pittsburgh’s fifth straight and third consecutive on the road, improving their record to 20-12-9, while Columbus fell to 18-16-7, the worst record in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins now hold a top wild-card spot, a point ahead of the Washington Capitals and even with the Philadelphia Flyers in the Metropolitan Division, though Philadelphia played fewer games. Pittsburgh has bounced back from a brutal 17-day stretch in December, where it lost nine of ten games and blew a few three-goal leads.
The Penguins will next host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.
